WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Juwan Howard scored 14 of his 22 points
in the first half and the Washington Wizards capitalized on a
huge second-quarter run for a split of their home-and-home
series with the Detroit Pistons, 97-87.

After Bison Dele hit hook shot to pull the Pistons within 31-30
with 7:56 left in the second quarter, Washington scored 19 of
the next 21 points to open a 50-32 cushion with 1:36 to play.

Howard, who finished 9-of-19 from the floor and also grabbed 11
rebounds, scored seven points in the decisive run. Chris Whitney
added five of his seven points in the surge.

Jeff McInnis, making his second straight start in place of the
injured Rod Strickland, once again did a superb job of directing
Washington's offense. He finished with a career-high 19 points
and five assists. In Monday's four-point loss at Detroit, he had
10 points and a career-high eight assists.

Grant Hill scored 16 points and Jerry Stackhouse had 14 for the
Pistons, who lost for just the second time in their last nine
games and for the first time in three meetings with the Wizards
this season.

Calbert Cheaney and Howard scored four points apiece before
Mitch Richmond drained a 3-pointer to start the Wizards'
decisive run in the second quarter.

After Detroit's Loy Vaught hit a short jumper, Whitney scored
five straight points and Howard converted a three-point play to
give Washington a 50-32 bulge with 1:36 left. The Pistons
closed to 50-36 at intermission.

Washington still held a 60-48 advantage with eight minutes to
play in third quarter before putting the game out of reach.
McInnis, who was 8-of-10 from the floor, hit a running jumper to
fuel a 13-4 run that gave the Wizards their biggest lead at
73-52 with 3:39 left in the period.

"I got a little tired towards the end," McInnis said. "But I'm
just happy to play. Wherever they need me I'll be. I'm filling
in some big shoes. I mean, hell, I was in the CBA at this time
last year. I'm pretty excited. I felt like the team was mine to
run and I ran it. I got in a comfort zone."

"I'm sure he's not surprised," Wizards assistant Jim Brovelli
said. "He's really matured. He's getting the ball to the right
people at the right time and he's helping himself at the same
time."

Washington shot 54 percent (41-of-76) while holding Detroit to
45 percent (36-of-80) from the floor. Led by Jerome Williams'
11 rebounds, the Pistons built a 46-37 rebounding edge.

McInnis and Richmond scored 10 points apiece in third quarter as
the Wizards' backcourt, which got the best of Detroit guards
Lindsey Hunter and Joe Dumars.

Richmond finished with 18 points. Hunter had a solid game with
10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Dumars was held
scoreless, shooting 0-for-4 in 24 minutes.

"Defensively, we didn't do a good job," Hunter said. "If you
don't do a good job on the road, it will be tough to win anyway.
We weren't that aggressive (in the second half)."

Jud Buechler sank a 3-pointer to bring the Pistons within 89-78
with 4:06 left but they could get no closer.

"We were off. There's no easy way around it," Detroit coach
Alvin Gentry said. "We never had an opportunity to get back into
the game because we couldn't stop them on defense."

There were a pair of ejections in the contest. Washington coach
Bernie Bickerstaff was tossed with 1:28 left in the first
quarter for arguing a foul call and the Pistons lost Dele with
18 seconds remaining in the third quarter after he picked up two
technical fouls.